1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to air rescue of injured individuals and, more particularly, is concerned with a short-haul escape system and method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Across the country, especially in the National Park system, injured individuals in precarious terrain are routinely extracted using a helicopter and a xe2x80x9cshort haulxe2x80x9d technique. This technique involves suspending the injured individual in a litter (stretcher), and possibly a rescuer, under the helicopter on a 100 to 150 foot length of rope and then flying them to level terrain where they can be lowered to the ground and transferred to medical care.
This technique has worked well, but is very risky for both the rescuer and injured individual, in that single engine helicopters are usually used and, if the engine fails, the persons suspended beneath the helicopter and possibly persons in the vicinity on the ground may be seriously injured or killed from any resultant helicopter crash.
Devices of various constructions for air and water rescue of individuals have been proposed in the prior art. Some representative examples of these prior art devices are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,707,600 to Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,442 to Pourchet, U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,189 to Pollard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,007 to Waller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,570 to DeSimone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,229 to Wright et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,260 to Fretten, U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,916 to Haro and U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,078 to Rivers. While these prior art devices may be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide an effective solution for the above-described problem at hand.
Consequently, a need still exists for an innovation which will provide a solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.
The present invention provides a short-haul escape system and method designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The system and method of the present invention, by utilizing an automatically deployable parachute, allows the suspended individuals to survive a helicopter engine failure, or an inadvertent release from the helicopter.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a short-haul escape system which comprises: (a) an elongated load line for detachable suspension from a support member on a load-transporting airborne vehicle; (b) a load-carrying receptacle attached to an end of the load line; (c) a parachute; (d) a container attachable to the airborne vehicle in proximity to the support member thereon and releasably stowing the parachute such that the parachute can be pulled from the container; and (e) an interconnecting member attached at one end to the parachute stowed in the container and extending from the container to an opposite end of the interconnecting member secured to the load line such that upon detaching the load line from the support member of the airborne vehicle, which will cause the load line and load-carrying receptacle to fall away from the airborne vehicle, the interconnecting member will pull the parachute from the container so that the parachute can inflate and slow the fall of the load line and receptacle to a soft landing.
More particularly, the container has a releasable means for permitting pullout release of the parachute from the container. The releasable means of the container may be a rupturable portion of the container. Also, in one embodiment, the load line has a loop formed at an opposite end of the load line being removably receivable on the support member in the form of a cargo support hook on the airborne vehicle. The opposite end of the interconnecting member is coupled to the loop at the opposite end the load line by a link element. Also, in a modified embodiment, the opposite end of the interconnecting member is coupled to the load line and a force generating mechanism is provided which is actuatable to release the load line from the support member in the form of a hoist on the airborne vehicle. The interconnecting member is a flexible strap.
The present invention also is directed to a short-haul escape method which comprises the steps of: (a) providing a container having a parachute stowed therein and releasable means for permitting pullout release of the parachute from the container; (b) attaching the container to a load-transporting airborne vehicle in proximity to a support member on the vehicle; (c) detachably attaching an elongated load line to the support member on the airborne vehicle and an end of the load line to a load-carrying receptacle; (d) connecting one end of an interconnecting member to the parachute stowed in the container and extending the interconnecting member from the container through the releasable means of the container; (e) connecting an opposite end of the interconnecting member to the load line adjacent to the support member on the airborne vehicle; (f) detaching the load line from the support member so as to cause the load line and load-carrying receptacle to fall away from the airborne vehicle; and (g) in response to detaching the load line from the support member on the airborne vehicle, pulling the parachute from the container by the interconnecting member so that the parachute can inflate and slow the fall of the load line and receptacle to a soft landing.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.